Contents

Plot

It's Valentine's Day, and all the friends are busy on the love market.

Joey has a beautiful date for the night before Valentine's Day, but she insists that they double date with her friend, so Joey pulls Chandler along. Chandler, who has no idea who he'll be hooking up with, meets his doom: Janice. Both are mad at their friends and at themselves for meeting each other again, but when Joey gives Chandler his credit card so that he can leave with his date, things take a forward step. What Chandler doesn't foresee is that he ends up sleeping with Janice. This new relationship does not last long, as he breaks up with her the next day at the coffee house; however, she's fine with this, because she knows Chandler will keep looking for her as he loves her, and he calls after her "Call me!" as she leaves the coffee house. Janice has had candy hearts printed with "Chan and Jan Forever."

Ross also gets a date—his first one since his divorce with Carol—with a beautiful neighbor of his named Kristen. Unfortunately for Ross, Carol and Susan also dine at the same Japanese restaurant and are seated at the same grill table. Ross focuses his attention on Carol rather than his date. When Susan leaves on an emergency, Ross insists that Carol move to his end of the table. His date, Kristen, already uncomfortable with her date's ex at the same table, slips away, leaving Ross alone with Carol. The two reminisce about the good times they had together and share a kiss. However, Carol points out how things have changed, and consoles Ross by assuring him that he'll soon meet someone right for him.

Phoebe, Rachel and Monica spend the holiday burning mementos of their past boyfriends, including Rachel's Pete Carney, who always cried after sex, and Monica's Howard, the "I Win!" guy. However, things get out of control as Rachel pours Paolo's remaining grappa in the bonfire, which almost burns the apartment. The fire, in a way, is a good omen, as the girls get three attractive firemen putting out the fire and asking them for drinks at the end of their shift. However, when they leave the apartment, they ask each other what are they going to tell their respective girlfriends and wives about what had happened.

Nancy Valen who plays Joey's date Lorraine was Sam Thomas on Baywatch (she also guest starred as Hallie in the pilot episode of Baywatch) which is Joey and Chandler's favorite show to watch together

Rachel mentions Pete Carney who cried after sex. Later in the series she briefly dates and has sex with Paul Stevens (played by Bruce Willis), father of Ross's then girlfriend Elizabeth, but dumps him because of his excessive crying.

The ladies discuss meeting up with the firefighters after their shift ends. Next season Phoebe dates a fireman (and a teacher) but he dumps her because she has an open fire in the Park with her other date who dumps her too.

Phoebe mentions that instead of burning stuff, they could chant and dance around naked. In "The One In Vegas, Part 1", Ross sees Rachel dancing naked which eventually leads to them getting drunkenly married in Las Vegas and sleeping together.

Chandler suggests he's going to climb out of the bathroom window. Rachel (and later Emily) fled their weddings through the bathroom window.

The fact that Carol and Ross get on so well perhaps points to the future friendship between Ross, Rachel and Carol.

Ross gets a noodle stuck on his forehead in this episode which Carol removes. Years later in "The One Where Rachel Goes Back To Work", Ross gets Emma's bow stuck on his forehead but in that episode Rachel doesn't remove it.

Rachel's t-shirt when the girls are performing the ritual appears to show a topless woman in a burlesque outfit.

Goofs

Ross tells Carol that this is his first date in nine years. However in "The One With All The Thanksgivings", a flashback to 1988 has Ross tells his parents about his new girlfriend, Carol, meaning they only started dating six years ago.

Ross makes nerdy talk by saying that a dog's jet lag is more significant because of the whole seven dog years to one human year thing and says a three hour flight would seem like a week and a half to a dog. If this were true, a three hour flight would only seem like twenty-one hours.

Quotes

Chandler: Come on, Ross, you gotta get back in the game here, okay? The Rachel thing's not happening, your ex-wife's a lesbian, [he searches for another]. I don't think we need a third.

Monica: Phoebe, you can go out with a creepy guy any night of the year. I know I do.

Joey: How do I look?Chandler: Oh, uh... [looks carefully] I don't care.

Chandler: Tell me its you and me "we"?

Joey: I'm not even sure what slathering is, but I definitely wanna be a part of it.

Kristen: Who are they?Ross: The blonde is my ex-wife. The woman touching her is her close personal friend.Kristen: You mean they're lovers?Ross: If you want to put a label on it.Kristen: Wow. Anything else I should know?Ross: Nope, nope...that's it. [Carol stands, revealing her belly bump] Oh, and she's pregnant with my baby. I always forget that part.

Phoebe: Now we need the semen of a righteous man.Rachel: Okay, Phoebs, you know what? If we had that, we wouldn't be doing the ritual in the first place.